1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to shock absorbing devices for protecting body parts from abrasion, and impacts or other forces capable of producing injury and, in particular, to configurable pad assemblies for both therapeutic and prophylactic uses.
2. Background Information
Various body parts, for example, the palm of one's hand, can be subjected to significant trauma when one engages in certain physical activity such as bicycle riding, weight lifting, shoveling, pistol shooting, etc. involving gripping by the hand. Shock forces are transmitted through the article being held, to the hand, especially the palm of the hand. Within the proximal palm is the median nerve. This nerve is particularly vulnerable to trauma within the flexor retinaculum of the palm.
Various types of gloves and pad devices do exist for covering the hand during such activities. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,498 discloses a palm guard for covering only part of the palm of the user. Some prior gloves and hand guards are provided with shock absorbing materials such as foam rubber, quilting or nap over part or all of their surface areas to provide extra insulation and buffering. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,173,150; 3,598,408; 3,353,265; 4,176,407; 4,183,100; 4,691,387 and 4,590,625. In some cases, the extra padding is releasable from the basic glove structure so that the characteristics of the gloves can be varied to suit the user's particular activity. Examples of protective gloves of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,885,249; 3,994,025 and 4,042,975. While these prior conventional gloves and pads do provide some protection to the hand, they do not offer sufficient protection to the median nerve. As a result, the user may suffer numbness of the thumb, index and third fingers (known as carpal tunnel syndrome) and/or other soft tissue injuries at the base of the thumb following biking, shoveling, use of hand tools, handguns, or other such activity involving strenuous use of the hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,715, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a palm protector that includes a plurality of releasably attached layers that are sized to the palm of the hand. While the patented palm protector works well, there are certain injuries or conditions that require more or less protection in is strategic areas of the palm and/or other body areas. Accordingly, I have improved on my earlier invention to provide a protective pad assembly that provides such customized protection.